Fig. 5

Hcy activates microglia by regulating STAT3 signaling pathway which occurs in microglia following stroke. a, b Representative photomicrographs of double immunofluorescence staining of pSTAT3 (green) with Iba-1 (red) or OX-42 (red), the markers of activated microglia, in the DG region of the rat hippocampus and the cerebral ischemic cortex. Overlays demonstrate the colocalization of pSTAT3 and Iba-1 (or OX-42). Each right-hand column depicts a magnified image of the rectangular region of the corresponding image in the left column. Scale bars =50 μm. c-f Quantitative assessment of pSTAT3/Iba-1 (or OX-42) double positive cells in the rat brain hippocampus and the cortex (n = 6, 10 fields/brain). h-k Quantitative assessment of Iba-1 (or OX-42) positive cells in the rat bran hippocampus and cortex (n=6, 10 fields/brain). l The phosphorylated and total protein expression of STAT3 was detected by Western Blot assay. m Representative western blot for Iba-1 (or OX-42). n Bar graphs show semiquantitative levels of pSTAT3/STAT3 and STAT3/ß-action as determined by band density analysis. o Semiquantitative analysis of Iba-1/ß-action and OX-42/ß-action, respectively. The data are presented as means ± SD from three independent experiments. ^a p < 0.05 vs. the SHAM group, ^b p < 0.05 vs. the MCAO group, ^c p < 0.05 vs. the MCAO + HCY group